Random Shenmue III Thoughts

[The_Intruder]

Does it means based on his response that he will include them all or some of the Choubo area?

[WildManofBorneo]

Lots of major titles at E3 this year. Shenmue 3 would have been drowned out by all the noise.

[Spaghetti]

Sony were also weirdly quite selective on which 3rd party games/publishers got into the press conference too. Maybe Microsoft sucked 'em all up?

Either way, start setting your watches for Gamescom. Only two and a half months to go.

[Valascaziel]

Sony were also weirdly quite selective on which 3rd party games/publishers got into the press conference too. Maybe Microsoft sucked 'em all up?

Either way, start setting your watches for Gamescom. Only two and a half months to go.

I think that was a simple case of Microsoft busting out the biggest gun: their checkbook. They've utilized that weapon before, such as when they bought Rare in the OG Xbox days and securing rights to Shenmue II, among other things

This year it was especially apparent in the buying of Ninja Theory, as well as securing showcases for more titles from Japan(DmC5, KH3, etc.) in an effort to paint themselves more than a Gears/Halo/Forza shovelbox.

Sony had a hard lesson learned about big splashes and no release dates from 2015-2016. I mean, we've now seen more information on Shenmue III in screens, video and interviews than FFVII-R.

Hell, Resident Evil 2 Remake was ANNOUNCED in the same time frame as FFVII Remake and we will be PLAYING it in 6 months.

Looking forward to Gamescom.

[WildManofBorneo]

Shenmue 3 was in pre production right up until the beginning of 2017, meaning that the footage we were shown at Gamescom reflected about 8 months worth of development. It'll be interested to see how much this game has progressed in the past year.

[Mr.Jigen]

Unless YS Net receives another major influx of cash, I think 2019 will be the year for release they will have had plenty of time for polish by then.

[Spaghetti]

Shenmue 3 was in pre production right up until the beginning of 2017, meaning that the footage we were shown at Gamescom reflected about 8 months worth of development. It'll be interested to see how much this game has progressed in the past year.

The footage was not from a hot-off-the-presses build of the game, from what we know. It's probably closer to like... 6ish months in full production*. Even the screens released at Gamescom were from late July/early August when you check the metadata.

*the Gamescom progress video was also the sum of development from the prototype too, not exclusively those 6/7 months of full production. When Peter saw the game in September 2016 at the Kickstarter dinner, he later told us some of the same content reemerged in the Gamescom video at a later state of development.

Either way, if there's something at Gamescom, the build will still be about a year more advanced than in 2017. The brief look at the Alpha footage from the THQ Nordic financial meeting is a good step forward and hopefully setting the stage for what we can expect in future showings.

[Mr.Jigen]

Shenmue 3 was in pre production right up until the beginning of 2017, meaning that the footage we were shown at Gamescom reflected about 8 months worth of development. It'll be interested to see how much this game has progressed in the past year.

The footage was not from a hot-off-the-presses build of the game, from what we know. It's probably closer to like... 6ish months in full production*. Even the screens released at Gamescom were from late July/early August when you check the metadata.

*the Gamescom progress video was also the sum of development from the prototype too, not exclusively those 6/7 months of full production. When Peter saw the game in September 2016 at the Kickstarter dinner, he later told us some of the same content reemerged in the Gamescom video at a later state of development.

Either way, if there's something at Gamescom, the build will still be about a year more advanced than in 2017. The brief look at the Alpha footage from the THQ Nordic financial meeting is a good step forward and hopefully setting the stage for what we can expect in future showings.

Not trying to be an asshole by replying like this, but, as a person involved in development myself I know the typical product won't be fully polished until roughly 3-4 months (sometimes 3-4 weeks) before release. Most of the footage is typical development growth pains, they made a huge mistake showing early footage.

[Spaghetti]

Not trying to be an asshole by replying like this, but, as a person involved in development myself I know the typical product won't be fully polished until roughly 3-4 months (sometimes 3-4 weeks) before release. Most of the footage is typical development growth pains, they made a huge mistake showing early footage.

Oh trust me, even as a layman I've been mostly hammering roughly the same lines. Games that look "polished" are usually slices pushed to a near final state specifically for a trade show or other promotional purposes, and don't reflect the state of the game as a whole.

I'm just noting that there's still a visible incline in progress with Shenmue III, and I think we'll be able to recognise more of that progress the next time the game turns up. I'm not expecting the game to look final, and I don't think Ys Net will change their process of avoiding smoke and mirrors polished slice methodology. They might be more selective with the footage they present, though - and hopefully don't have to contend with any serious bugs that affect presentation such as having to disable facial animations like last year.

I will say though, it's hard to blame Ys Net showing early footage as a "mistake" given the pressure to do so as a partially crowdfunded game. It was explained in interviews that last Gamescom's showing was largely down to them not feeling they could make the Deep Silver announcement without footage, and cobbled it together as a result. They would have caught significant flak if they'd stuck to their guns and kept a lid on things. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

Some fans were turning mutinous, and the press buzzards were already circling.

[*Kenshin Himura*]

Microsoft had a really good E3 this year surprisingly, they seem to be getting the message from the fans saying they want more games and not all that Xbox live experience entertainment amenities. They racked up on exclusives and third party games. Shenmue III will most likely be at Gamescom or TGS. There are too many heavy hitters coming out this year and next year. Wouldn't be surprised for a late 2019 release honestly.

[WildManofBorneo]

The footage was not from a hot-off-the-presses build of the game, from what we know. It's probably closer to like... 6ish months in full production*. Even the screens released at Gamescom were from late July/early August when you check the metadata.

*the Gamescom progress video was also the sum of development from the prototype too, not exclusively those 6/7 months of full production. When Peter saw the game in September 2016 at the Kickstarter dinner, he later told us some of the same content reemerged in the Gamescom video at a later state of development.

I do recall Yu Suzuki stating that the Gamescom content to be from an older build, so 6 months development is probably an accurate assessment. It also the reason why the game appeared to be so rudimentary with facial animations having yet to be implemented. Normally when a game debuts at a trade event like E3 or Gamescom it has been in full production for at least a year, though generally closer to 18 months.

I believe that Yu decided to show the game simply as a favor to the backers, yet by doing so had inadvertently exposed it to the critique of the gaming media.

[Valascaziel]

Realistically speaking, we should get our first true look at the game in August. They will have had(counting the age of previous footage) almost a year and a half to show us what they have accomplished for the game.

It really needs to be on-point, though. I'm not saying "zOMg blown away" like RE2Make did visually, but a very substantial and worthy AA Shenmue look in many ways, not just visually.

They can ill afford another debacle like MAGIC, especially this late and at a bigger stage they've already confirmed to be at. If they show marginally improved footage of the same scenes again, it'll be a disaster and people will be quite justified in asking the tough questions.

[Mr.Jigen]

Realistically speaking, we should get our first true look at the game in August. They will have had(counting the age of previous footage) almost a year and a half to show us what they have accomplished for the game.

It really needs to be on-point, though. I'm not saying "zOMg blown away" like RE2Make did visually, but a very substantial and worthy AA Shenmue look in many ways, not just visually.

They can ill afford another debacle like MAGIC, especially this late and at a bigger stage they've already confirmed to be at. If they show marginally improved footage of the same scenes again, it'll be a disaster and people will be quite justified in asking the tough questions.

Oddly enough depending on the budget given by DS Shenmue could very well be classed as a AAA game, one of the recent updates even said they have 40 or so people working on the game which is in the area of modern AAA games, which usually have 50-100 people on them. Maybe we will be greatly surprised, I know I at least enjoy the new models (expressions need more time).

[Reprise]

I still don't get why it's so controversial in the gaming world to show off unfinished, early or rough footage. I really appreciated the Gamescom teaser and took it for what it is.

If I was a pizza maker and someone wanted to see me make pizzas, I would demonstrate the dfferent stages, e.g. rolling the dough, applying the layers of ingredients and sauce and cheese, adding the seasoning and drizzling the olive oil, before baking the pizza.

I wouldn't make perfectly formed small slices of pizza to show off and then make the rest of the pizza, slice at a time.

I don't know if that analogy works, but it's a game IN development. It's a work in progress. As a backer, I want to see progress.

[Hazuki00]

As far as I know, they haven't confirmed they'll be at gamescom, what do we know it's that Cedric is going to be there. I'd take
It with a pinch of salt. Until they confirm it in the Kickstarter page I'll be cautious.